Choosing actors to portray your iconic parents in a biopic is no small task, especially when your mom and dad are Bob Marley and Rita Marley. Ziggy Marley, who served as a producer on Bob Marley: One Love, explained why Kingsley Ben-Adir (Secret Invasion) and Lashana Lynch (The Woman King) were the perfect choices to bring them to life on the big screen.
Bob Marley: One Love, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), tells the life story of the iconic Reggae artist and how he went from changing to being a messenger and uniting the world through his songs.
CassiusLife’s Men’s Lifestyle and Pop Culture writer Bernard “Beanz” Smalls spoke with Ziggy Marley, who, along with his mother Rita Marley, his sister Cedella Marley, and his wife Orly Marley, worked to bring this film to the theater and ensure it was an accurate telling of Bob Marley’s life.
Kingsley Ben-Adir Had Bob Marley’s Emotional Expressions
Source: Paramount Pictures / Bob Marley: One Love
We asked Marley why Ben-Adir and Lynch were perfect for the roles, he explained that they each had endearing qualities that reminded him and his siblings of his parents.
…it was like he was the one that kept us engaged in the emotion of Bob.
“Kingsley Ben-Adir, when we saw his tape, me see it, my brother see it, my sister see it, my mother see it; it was like he was the one that kept us engaged in the emotion of Bob,” Marley explained.
He continued, “He couldn’t speak the dialect exactly. He got better as we started shooting. But the emotional expression that we were looking for, for someone to express our father in a much more deeper way than just a superficial way, than just a pretending way, but lets us feel strongly that we can believe this emotion that Bob is having this emotion; Kingsley was the one who made us feel that way.”
Lashana Lynch Reminded Ziggy Marley of His Mother
Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Bob Marley: One Love
For Lynch, Marley says the actress reminded him so much of his mother; her Jamaican roots also helped her get the role.
“Lashana, she already have Jamaican heritage. Her mom is Jamaican, and she reminds me of my mother in a way that she’s a strong Black woman, and my mother is a strong Black woman as well. She had that thing about her that really impressed us, and she’s great,” Ziggy told CassiusLife.
Why It Took So Long For A Bob Marley Biopic To Happen
Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Bob Marley: One Love
Surprisingly, until now, there has never been a movie about Bob Marley, but there have been plenty of documentaries. So what took so long? According to Marley, family involvement was necessary to get this movie produced.
“Yeah. I feel like it takes so long because, in the years before this, it was never us who was bringing it. It was somebody that’s bringing it to us. This one is we bringing it to them. I think that’s why I, just, I never feel connected to us when somebody is bringing it. But no, we bringing it, it have that strong connection,” Marley said.
Bob Marley: One Love arrives in theaters Feb.14; you can watch the entire interview with Ziggy Marley above.
